Knox Avenue Traffic

October 21, 2005North Augusta’s new Lowe’s is close to completion. But that means more traffic on one of the city’s busiest roads. It’s always been a popular route for commuters, and now it’s a magnet for shoppers, too. That’s why the area is in for some major changes. News 12 is on your side with what these changes could mean for your drive home from work.

Brent Morin has to loop around and come down a back road on Knox Avenue to get to his dad’s shop on Georgia Avenue.

“Usually around lunch them when everyone’s getting off work, it seems hard to get across the street, getting on this road,” Morin said.

Working only a block away from Knox and Five Notch Road, he says he hears accidents from the area all the time.

“It’d be a good idea to put up a light because someone will end up getting really hurt,” Morin said.

Tonya Gregory works right across the street and she agrees, not only would it prevent more accidents but it will also help the traffic congestion on Knox Avenue.

“A lot of cars go fast through there, and they’re trying to turn, end up with people being hurt,” Gregory said.

And they’re both right. Skip Grkovic, the Director of Economic Development in North Augusta, says about 32,000 cars a day travel through the Knox-Five Notch-Georgia Avenue area.

“We had a number of questions, comments and complaints on a regular basis on traffic lights,” Grkovic said.

And that’s not the only intersection raising some concerns. That’s why the city plans on adding several new traffic lights around Knox Avenue and Martintown Road. Where exactly will they be? One will be on Knox and Five Notch Road. Another will be on Knox and Lecompte. And to help ease some of the traffic coming in and out of Lowe’s, another will be placed on Jersey and Martintown.

While some are saying more traffic lights are an absolute must for Knox Avenue, especially with the new businesses coming in, Skip says it can be a double-edge sword because it’ll alleviate some of the accidents right now while creating new problems at the same time.

“Traffic signals have a tendency to increase the number of accidents because if there’s no red light, people won’t run it, but once it’s up people will go through it,” Grkovic said.

The new traffic lights, an attempt to stop more accidents will mean more stop and go traffic.

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